Finding a reliable coder

Coding 

I know many of you can create, edit and alter code like Al and that is a huge advantage in developing online, if you do not then this post may be of interest to you. I have in the past used freelance websites which can be fine for what they are but after a while of developing if you cannot code then you really need to have someone you can quickly ask questions of, someone to make small changes and discuss a future project to see if it is feasible.

Therefore if like me you can’t code finding a coder that is reliable, trustworthy and available is not an easy task but it is a very important one as you progress forward.

When I bought boats for sale there was a flaw in the cheap script I bought, I had to call on a coder I know to fix, I also wanted to display how much in value was listed for sale, at the time it was about £200k worth of boats and I thought it would be cool to check that daily and see it go up past a million, small jobs, big jobs they all need doing and it is impractical to constantly put out to tender on a freelance site every little thing you want doing.

The approach I took may help others, I decided to seek out forums that specialise in the coding language I wanted and then approach a moderator. I looked for the large support forums dedicated to either that coding language or forums about forums, forums are excellent places to find very talented individuals, there are some quick conclusions you can draw when looking at moderators or very senior members on some of these forums.

  • They spend a lot of time online and therefore can often be available to answer quick questions or concerns
  • They know their stuff, constantly helping others out for free and dealing with a wide variety of problems and questions
  • They can think on their feet
  • They are trustworthy and reliable
  • They don’t do it for the money

I contacted such a moderator on a forum to ask if they could upgrade a database from access to MS SQL for me, which they did in a very efficient and timely manner, this person has been invaluable from that point onwards doing other small jobs and some larger jobs ranging form $30 to $400, working evenings & weekends.

Russian RouletteFrom my point of view it is of huge benefit to have someone to call on if things went wrong, if a site goes down or runs into a problem time is money, I find it important to be grateful, courteous and at times pay a little more than what was asked for to ensure we both understand that neither takes advantage of the other. The coder I pay per job is working on a new project of mine as we speak, it sure beats sending out requests and playing coder roulette whenever I get an idea I want to explore.

About Scott Jones

Scott hails from the north east of Scotland and started earning online at the end of 2000 building websites for local businesses during which time he won an award from Lord Alan Sugar for Excellence in Enterprise. After having quite a bit of success with domaining Scott mainly runs educational evergreen websites which generate over 3 million visitors per month but is always on the lookout for a fresh thinking out of the box way to turn a buck. Follow on Twitter.

Comments

  1. I’m a fully paid up developer, so don’t have this issue but when it comes to web design that’s a different story.

    I guess the point is to play to your strengths. Outsource what you can’t do if you can afford it.

  2. I have a lot of friends specialized in different domains in my contacts list, and they are always ready to help me solve my problems. :)

  3. I pay to my friends to do coding when I need. Since I’m in internet more than 6 years now, I have reliable online friends for that stuff.

  4. Any tips on how to estimate/figure out what a fair price to pay someone for a job is?

    • Sure. Just get a good coder to break the project out into components, and how long each will take. Then just multiply by an hourly rate.

      • And as far as hourly rates go, I would say for a competent programmer your looking at a minimum of £30 per hour. I know that for any less than that I may as well take a permanent job. Yet so many people don’t want to pay sensible money for programmers.

  5. The funny thing is that even though I’m an experienced coder myself, I still find this article to be completely useful to me. I would love to find someone to offload some of my work to, but most coders out there do awful jobs, and their code is just brutal.

  6. As a coder I am doing similar stuff with various clients. It’s good to know somebody and work with them for various projects especially if they are understanding relayable people.

  7. Our main problem is we find a great freelancer who works great for us. WE increase their pay to sometimes double what they ask for, only to find they get some large corporation after them and we lose our value to them. Frustrating!

    Martin’s last blog post..UWT4me.com Sold

  8. I have specialized in short-term projects for a number of clients since 1994. It has worked so well that my entire full-time business is built around short-term projects. After doing a good job for a client, I’ve either become the go-to-guy for other small projects or have been referred by my clients to do the exact same thing for others. Indeed, thinking on one’s feet is important because the range of projects I might be asked to take on can be pretty wide.

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